Cupcake cuteness

Last summer, when Deborah Robinson's grandson Eddie was turning 5 and having a pool party, she unveiled a dessert that looked wonderful.

Each cupcake charmingly captured the essence of the beach — with the blue sea lapping at grainy sand and little bathing-suited bears lying under umbrellas and floating in inner tubes.

The kids were astonished. The adults probably even more so, taking in what Robinson calls "a little miniature work of art." Yet she swears it was easier than pie.

Robinson, a semiretired attorney from Roland Park who writes a dessert blog called B-More Sweet, is part of a creative cadre whose efforts are hopelessly setting back the "don't play with your food" movement. They're painters with icing palettes and craftspeople whose Home Depot is the grocery store treats aisle

Robinson calls herself a "candy detective," following in the sugary footsteps of Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, the original detectives who wrote 2008's "Hello, Cupcake!" and its sequel that just came out this month, "What's New, Cupcake?"

The authors, who spent decades together styling food, pride themselves on building their creations with ordinary treats, things like marshmallows, spice drops, M&Ms and licorice.

To them, a Circus Peanut candy isn't just a Circus Peanut — it's the body of a goldfish, it's the head of a horse or the feet of a clown. Fruit chews and Tootsie Rolls are both sliceable geometric pieces and modeling clay.

"People are surprised that by taking a few candies and using simple techniques, they can turn cupcakes into these really professional creations," Richardson says. "It's really an eye-opener for people to think outside the box on how to decorate a cupcake."

The Chinese takeout cupcakes, which almost have to be seen to be believed, would work at any adult dinner party. Fruit chews, licorice, sprinkles and icing look disturbingly like lo mein, while the same sort of chews combined with rice cereal, jelly beans and more licorice ends up looking just like fried rice — particularly when placed smartly in one of those ubiquitous cardboard containers, as Tack and Richardson, who never miss a detail, do.

Place each colored sugar in separate shallow bowls. Sort out 22 like-colored marshmallows for each cupcake. Make the petals for each cupcake by cutting the 22 mini-marshmallows in half on the diagonal, allowing all of the marshmallow pieces to fall into one of the colored sugars. Shake the bowl and press the cut sides of the marshmallows into the sugar to coat. Repeat with the remaining marshmallows and colored sugars.

Spread a thin layer of frosting on top of one cupcake. Starting along the outside edge of the cupcake, arrange like-colored marshmallow petals, sugared sides up, close together. Continue with another two rows of the same color marshmallows to almost completely cover the cupcake. Repeat with the remaining frosting, cupcakes and marshmallows.

For the stamens, insert five like-colored licorice pastels in the center of each cupcake. Arrange the flower cupcakes on a serving platter. Trim the green licorice twists to look like stems and place on platter.

*** To tint your own sugar: Place sugar in a zip-lock plastic bag. Add a few drops of food coloring to the bag. Create new colors by mixing basic colors like yellow and red to make orange. Seal the bag and shake until the sugar is evenly tinted.-- From "What's New, Cupcake," by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson